Photographs of Golden Age of Soviet science go on show at MAMM

A new retrospective of revered Russian photographer Vsevolod Tarasevich has opened at the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow. The black and white images on show, part of a larger body of work about Moscow State University, convey the romance and enthusiasm around science in the Soviet Union from the late 1950s until the mid-1970s. The period is considered a sort of new Enlightenment, during which many Russian scientists were awarded with the Nobel prizes, such as Pavel Cherenkov, Igor Tamm and Ilya Frank in 1958 and Lev Landau in 1962. Scientific terms terminology appeared regularly in newspapers headlines and scientists were portrayed as heroes, whose knowledge and achievements were more important than material reward.

Duel, a picture from this series, won the World Press Photo award In 1963.

Tarasevich, who picked up photography when he was only 11, became a press photographer for photo agency LenTASS at 21. He went on to work for the Soviet Union’s most important newspapers and magazines and worked as a war correspondent from 1941-1945 during the war against Finland. He later became Dean of the Photojournalism Faculty at the Institute of Journalism in Moscow.

The show, a joint collaboration between the Moscow Government, the Moscow Department of Culture, the MAMM and the Moscow House of Photography, runs until 14 July.